The Cell C Sharks’ Vodacom United Rugby Championship victory over the Dragons at Hollywoodbets Kings Park on Friday evening was achieved thanks to a performance that ticked a lot of boxes.
Speaking after his side had defeated the Welsh 51-3, Cell C Sharks head coach Sean Everitt admitted that the areas of concern that they had identified and worked on in training came off perfectly for a performance to be proud of.
“I’m proud of the guys, we were very happy with how things went, we spoke during the week about giving opposition soft moments and we tightened that up a bit,” Everitt said. “We gave them nothing, put pressure on them with the ball in hand. We were also able to convert points in the gold zone which was what we worked on all week so I’m very proud of how the guys have bounced back.”
Having made changes for this game, Everitt admitted that no one had been dropped after the Edinburgh games, “I just wanted to give some other guys an opportunity and they did really well.
“It was also good to give some players a bit of a break, we’re looking to manage their game time and get everyone throughout the squad on even numbers and it worked well for us.
“I knew the guys would step up, it was a big game for us and we had to bounce back. The guys did the job.”
Building a platform in the first half delivered a 23-3 half-time lead before five second-half tries blew the Dragons away.
“We wanted to build on the first-half performance, we probably weren’t as clinical as we could have been, but we certainly got the momentum going and space opened up on the edges. We got the ball into good areas and were able to exploit space out wide. We started putting phases together and were able to attack. We were very chuffed to break down their defence and put those points on the board in the second half.”
After five from six bonus-point victories and one speed bump – against Edinburgh – Everitt said that “It’s important for us to stay humble. I’m very happy with the scoreline we achieved because it does bring confidence, but at the same time, our players know what we need to do and what we need to work on.
“We were more clinical in the areas where we fell short last week. For us, it’s about putting the whole game together and being clinical in the important areas of the field so we can put pressure on defences to score points.”
Speaking of Vodacom Man of the Match Werner Kok, Everitt praised his wing for his efforts on the field.
“He has played a string of games and has done well in all of them, we know he has a high work rate, he’s a fighter and he puts a lot of second, third and fourth efforts on the rugby field. The metres he covers over the 80 minutes of a game are quite bizarre. We’re very happy for him and he justly received the man of the match award.”
The Cell C Sharks' front row was in a mood to scrap and they delivered a match-winning effort that comes from playing together week after week.
“With more game time together they’ve just got better and better and will continue to improve as they play; they’re really important to the success of this team,” Everitt said.
After conceding 50 points against the Cell C Sharks, Dragons Director of Rugby Dean Ryan said that his team had “learned a lesson on power. We were losing scrums, losing collisions and when that happens, you can’t put pressure in the opposition half.”